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We currently have daily flash flood issues.
Please chime in as to what steps (CDOT) are required to allow safe travel to and from Woodland Park?
A friend that's lived here for decades figures the only way to stop the Waldo runoff is to blast the canyon. This would fill the ravine with enough debris to disperse (slow) the runoff.
There is only one small drainage to handle all the water. Much the same as Texas Creek.

A really big funnel at the base of the canyon with a hose running from there into bone-dry Palmer Lake???

Seriously, it's a really hard problem to solve with any man-made methods. I'm also inclined to believe that blasting the canyon wouldn't solve it and it would probably just make WORSE problems in the form of landslides/mudslides. The only solution is to get all the trees and vegetation back, which of course would take many years even if the area wasn't constantly being flooded and washing any new growth out.

Any way you look at it, it's a sad situation with no quick remedy. Time will tell what becomes of Hwy 24 and the areas along Waldo Canyon.

Meaning "die a violent drowning death if you happen to be driving westbound on Highway 24 at the wrong time on the wrong day because local/state/federal govt in charge of our tax dollars would rather not ensure our roads are safe if the engineering costs are too high?"

The first time cars were sucked off Highway 24 from flooding/runoff was pretty shocking. The second time it happened a few weeks later was even more shocking because nobody in charge of transportation safety seems to care enough to protect those people getting swept away. Close the road for the next 15 years if you don't intend to solve the problem. And don't tell me the problem can't be solved. And don't tell me there's not enough money. There was money for any number of other (ahem) "projects" the past 10-15 years. Flooding on a dang road killing innocents can be fixed.

Meaning "die a violent drowning death if you happen to be driving westbound on Highway 24 at the wrong time on the wrong day because local/state/federal govt in charge of our tax dollars would rather not ensure our roads are safe if the engineering costs are too high?"

The first time cars were sucked off Highway 24 from flooding/runoff was pretty shocking. The second time it happened a few weeks later was even more shocking because nobody in charge of transportation safety seems to care enough to protect those people getting swept away. Close the road for the next 15 years if you don't intend to solve the problem. And don't tell me the problem can't be solved. And don't tell me there's not enough money. There was money for any number of other (ahem) "projects" the past 10-15 years. Flooding on a dang road killing innocents can be fixed.

I tend to agree, especially because there are no alternatives.

Colorado is a mountain state, which causes CDOT lots of problems. Tough tubas. Florida is a swampy state and even has a road that runs miles and miles out over the ocean. Many states have geologic and geographic issues with road buildings. Tough. That's life. Deal with it.

Meaning "die a violent drowning death if you happen to be driving westbound on Highway 24 at the wrong time on the wrong day because local/state/federal govt in charge of our tax dollars would rather not ensure our roads are safe if the engineering costs are too high?"

The first time cars were sucked off Highway 24 from flooding/runoff was pretty shocking. The second time it happened a few weeks later was even more shocking because nobody in charge of transportation safety seems to care enough to protect those people getting swept away. Close the road for the next 15 years if you don't intend to solve the problem. And don't tell me the problem can't be solved. And don't tell me there's not enough money. There was money for any number of other (ahem) "projects" the past 10-15 years. Flooding on a dang road killing innocents can be fixed.

Just wait a few weeks, you won't have to deal with rain anymore, and you won't see it again for 8 months.

Colorado is a mountain state, which causes CDOT lots of problems. Tough tubas. Florida is a swampy state and even has a road that runs miles and miles out over the ocean. Many states have geologic and geographic issues with road buildings. Tough. That's life. Deal with it.

What about a bridge like the one over Austin Bluffs and Union, seems like hwy 24 is now a creek, with all of the overflow from the canyons. Is Glenwood Canyon similar? Seems like there needs to be some engineering people brought in and re-survey the whole area.

Hwy 24 is a major highway for the Pikes Peak region. (really?) Hey Mayor Bach, better fix some major problems before creating new ones!!!!!!!

I have solutions for hwy 24; none of them will be popular because it requires raising and spending money.

Hwy 24 is an old-type road full of grade level intersections, cross streets, poor drainages, and far too many twists and turns. It's probably been around for 75 years or more, wan't designed for todays heavy trucks and faster cars, and was functionally obsolete years ago.

From Limon (out on the plains) to COLO SPGS east side, simply build a new 4-6 lane interstate highway to bypass all those small towns and revert Hwy 24 to local traffic only so we can stop the ridiculous reliance on using a dangerous 2-lane country road as our connector to I-70 at Limon. This should've been done at least 20 years ago.

From I-25, somewhere between North Gate Rd and Baptist Rd, build a 4-lane toll road through USAF Academy property and over the Front Range to connect with Hwy 67 north of Woodland Park (WP). There'd be no intermediate exits along the way. That will take a ton of traffic off of Hwy 24 through OCC and Manitou and save 40 miles and an hour of driving for those trying to reach WP from the north end of the county. Taking that much traffic off of Hwy 24 might eliminate the need to widen Hwy 24 from downtown to WP; a study can determine that, though local upgrades are still appropriate. Point is to return Hwy 24 to that of a high quality urban arterial local road and get the through traffic onto proper modern highways.

From Hwy 115, somewhere around Little Turkey Creek Rd, build a 4-lane toll road along the south end of Pike Natl Forest and into the area of Victor and Cripple Creek. This will also remove a ton of through traffic from Hwy 24 through OCC, Manitou and WP.

Pay for it three ways: (1) Bonds for the toll roads; and (2) Raise the Federal gasoline tax to where it should be since it was never indexed for inflation, was last raised in 1993 and in the ensuing 20 years has lost a third of its buying power to inflation; and (3) Do the same thing for the state gasoline tax.

As far as I'm concerned, the death of that man last week on Hwy 24 is just another fatality due to TABOR which has starved all of COLO for the funds needed to assure our infrastructure meets our needs and assure our ability to respond to unplanned outcomes from disasters such as the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires.

I'm NOT a tax/spend liberal, but I can read a damned map, am a hawk on infrastructure, and have spent most of my working life in the transportation business.

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Mike - As soon as you wrote that three letter word, TAX, did you feel the seismic shift as knees in El Paso County started to jerk?

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